Birdcage
by grayefish
Summary: "You know, i've always found it interesting how you need a CIA encryption to call your travel agent." A husky voice behind him mused. It was then Natsuo Ichinomi realised that Karasuba was holding a very familiar looking phone. An exact copy of his. "You have some explaining to do." She cooed.
1. Chapter 1: Mole

**Disclaimer:** I don't not own Sekirei or any Call of Duty references made.

Chapter One: Mole

* * *

 ** _CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia._**

" _Drone feed going live in 3, 2, 1."_

" _Drone feed live. We have eyes on target."_

" _HQ, Team 2, ETA to holding point 4 mins."_

" _HQ, Team 1, currently holding position aft of target, SOG 13 knots. We're set."_

At those words the temperature in the operations room seemed to drop a few dozen degrees down, and the tension felt dense enough to cut with a knife. CIA Director Wendell Clement Hunt stared intensely at the drone feed on the central screen, silently wishing the navy's boys best of luck.

* * *

 ** _Same time, Somewhere in the South China Sea._**

For all the speed and stealth afforded to them, rubber dinghy rides were never comfortable. The engines were noisy and they bounced way too much in the choppy sea, ensuring that you would never hit anything if you tried to shoot from them.

Though you'd probably be sick by the time you even thought about it.

The rain and strong winds definitely weren't helping.

This was what Petty Officer Corbin Barrett of Seal Team 6 thought about, as he eyed the gargantuan suspect cargo vessel in the distance before Lt. Drake Caydon's voice came over the comms.

" _Alright ladies, we got one shot at this. In exactly 4 minutes that bomb planted by our CIA spooks is gonna go off, and make a big hole in the port side cargo hold. At the same time Team 2 is gonna provide close air support support and soften up their forces, before dropping off on the main deck to serve as a diversion. That's our ticket in."_

" _Our sources indicate the terminal with all the blueprints we need is hidden in the central control station. You each have storage drive. Once we get to that control room, we wait for Langley to give us the code. Once you get the blueprint, holler for extraction."_ There was a brief pause as the other members ran through the scenario in their heads.

" _Hoo yah?"_ The field officer asked his men.

" _Hoo yah."_ They replied unanimously.

" _Team 1, this is HQ. One minute till operation start."_

" _Look alive people, this is it."_

Despite how well equipped MBI security troopers looked on the outside, most of them were merely ex security guards. Some were wooed over by the better pay and benefits compared to old jobs. Others simply had no choice but to work for MBI as the company slowly bought up their previous slave masters and appropriated them for their own uses.

Hence it could be said, none of them knew how to handle a surprise bombing out in the middle of the ocean.

Or ever gone toe to toe with US special forces operatives.

A series of loud, deafening bangs and the whole ship was thrown into chaos as the explosion ripped the hull open, resulting in a hole about a foot and a half wide along the lower reaches of the port side.

" _Crew expendable."_

Damage control crews that rushed to try and isolate the damaged bulkhead were immediately picked off by a barrage of suppressed machine gun fire.

At the same time, the main deck came alive with the sound of helicopter rotors and minigun fire. The captain and bridge crew of the vessel barely had any time to register the Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk flying towards them, before being peppered by a salvo of 7.62 rounds.

" _Go! Go! Go!"_ Team two's squad leader shouted as he and his men abseiled down the guide ropes to the bridge, taking up positions once their boots touched the deck.

The MBI guards on the main deck had just managed to recover from their initial shock and managed to regroup behind various fixtures on the deck, making themselves harder targets to pick off. However, whatever fight they might have had in them died with the hiss of a suppressed Remington M24, and the thump of one of their number hitting the floor, dead.

" _HQ, Team 2. Bridge clear"_

" _Roger, Team 1 is just outside the main control room. Proceed as planned."_

"Roger that" The squad leader acknowledged on the comms before nodding his guy on the ship's electronics panel. " _Team 1, standby. Going dark in 3, 2, 1."_

A couple of MBI personal took cover behind a sealed hatch door, waiting for their assailants to burst in at any time. Sweat poured down their face, needless to say they were scared shitless. It sure as hell didn't help that the whole compartment suddenly went dark, leaving only the red night lights to illuminate the way.

They were shaken from their daze by a loud clank and the door creaked open, followed by a canister dropping into the compartment. The MBI guards didn't have any time to identify what was before it crackled loudly and filled the room in a shower of disorienting crackles and sparks.

They could only cover their ears and stagger around dazed before they were dropped by a salvo of silenced 9mm lead.

" _HQ, Team One has reached the central control room."_ Lt. Caydon's announced on the intercom as the rest of the squad flooded the room.

" _Copy that Team One, be advised 5 minutes to operation cut off time. Suggest you hurry with the transfer."_

" _Roger that, HQ."_ Caydon replied.

"You heard them, let's move people!" He waved his hand in a circle above his head, signaling his men to begin searching the compartment. They soon stumble upon a large server room, with a computer in the middle of it.

"HQ, you seeing this?"

" _Affirm. Team 1, this is Langley, the blueprints are housed within the level 1 encryptions of that computer. The storage drive holds a bypass that will bring you to the code input. The code for that is: R, three, W, R, one, T, and three."_

" _R3WR1T3"_

Lt. Caydon raised an eyebrow at the code that appeared on screen, but nodded to Barrett, his man on the computer, who quickly punched the codes into the keyboard, and as promised the appropriate screen showed up on the display.

" _Well, looks like them spooks hit gold this time."_ He thought as his glanced through the plans on screen.

Once the plans were downloaded into the storage device they reported back. " _HQ, Team One, blueprint secure, heading up to rondevu with Team Two for extraction."_

" _Affirmative, seahawk is en route to you now. Nice work."_

"Right ladies, pack it up, we're going home."

A collective sigh of relief washed across the operations room as the last of the Seals were airlifted from the ship. Which was quickly followed by a wave of excited Wows and Woos as a couple of ship to ship missiles from an Arleigh Burke class destroyer hit the side of the cargo vessel, penetrating the hull and sinking it.

Director Wendell Hunt took the opportunity to wipe beads of sweat of his forehead that he hadn't realised were there till a few seconds ago. For someone who had been violently objecting the idea a few months ago, their latest handler had come through for them big time.

He'd needed to thank him personally soon.

* * *

 ** _MBI building, Central Tokyo, Japan_**

Calling the current MBI board meeting tense was probably the understatement of the century. No, tense doesn't even begin to describe it, Ichinomi Natsuo thought as he stood behind his boss. The company's charismatic, and arguably deranged head, Hiroto Minaka.

One of Natsuo's sekirei, Number 105, Benitsubasa, shifted uncomfortably beside him.

After publicly firing the CEO of MBI security, he had gone on a rather scaving rant about how the other components of his company were nothing short of "impotent fucks" in light of the recent sabotage and information leaks.

"How the fuck did people know we were selling an unproven product?!" He screamed. "How the fuck did they even get hold of those emails?" Minaka pointed a finger at middle aged man in a brown suit at the table, third from the left, prompting him to speak. He was the head of the PR office if Natsuo remembered correctly.

"Ya think that if you bribed a whole bunch of FDA officials, that you'd be a lot more fucking careful about covering your tracks?! Huh?!" Minaka said as he slapped his palm into his face. "And don't even get me started on the shipping incident last week! That shit has got the US Navy written all over it!"

"I bet those assholes have my blueprints now already!" The head of MBI screamed as he stalked up and down the board room. "Not that any of this would have happened, if word didn't get out there was an illegal pirate vessel out in the south china sea, with fucking MBI secrets on board!"

"So what is it?!" Minaka demanded, turning to face his pale faced board members.

"We… Don't know…" The PR head croaked, earning himself a jump scare as Minaka frustratedly slammed his hand on the table. He then pointed at the man beside him. This one was a little younger and wore a smart looking gray suit. The head of technology, if memory served.

The man cleared his throat.

"Whoever did this knew how we worked and where the loopholes are in the network." He said, not daring make eye contact. "We identified the source as internal but the trail ends there." The head of technology continued.

"We may have a mole in our midst."

The lively atmosphere in the room dropped as Minaka became deathly calm from hearing those words. A moment passed, before he nodded to himself while stroking his chin. There were murmurs of "I see…" And "So that's how you want to play it…"

The MBI head turned to Natsuo, his gaze behind his thick glasses cold and determined.

"See to it that this mole is found and the threat disposed off. The Disciplinary Squadron has all precedence over all assets of MBI. Effective immediately."

The Disciplinary Squadron's ashikabi nodded and smirked. "Of course." Minaka turned back to regard the board room.

"The rest of you, see that you take extra precautions in future exchanges, i don't need anymore mistakes." He said coldly. "Not when the second stage is drawing near."

"Dismissed."

* * *

"Man, that was scary." Benitsubasa exclaimed as she stepped out in tow behind her ashikabi.

"Really? I've seen him much angier though." Natsuo replied, flashing his sekirei a faint attempt at a reassuring smile.

Benitsubasa felt a skip in her heart and blush creep up her face all the same. Her mouth curled into a shit eating grin the moment her ashikabi turned back around.

" _Maybe today's the day."_ She mused, surely no harm in trying anyways. Benitsubasa skipped a couple paces up to her ashikabi's side.

"Hey Natsuo, If you're not doing anything now… Maybe we could-" The red sekirei was cut off mid sentence by a mobile phone ringing. She gritted her teeth as she tried to restrain a violent outburst from her failed wooing attempt. Natsuo took no notice of her and took out his phone, checking the number.

His eyebrows furrowed when he saw who it was.

"Sorry Benitsubasa, maybe another time." He apologised to the pink haired girl. The sekirei only pouted in response. Natsuo laughed. "Oh come on, don't be like that." He smiled as he patted her on the shoulder.

"Fine." Benitsubasa sighed, relenting and waving Natsuo off as he left down the corridor in the opposite direction. " _I know you're gay, but totally treating me like a kid…."_ She sighed

Once he was far enough from her, Natsuo answered the call.

" _Virginia is nice this time of year, you should visit soon."_ A female voice stated.

"Birdcage." He replied.

" _You are now on a secure line."_ The female voice stated, before a loud beep sounded followed by the click clack of a receiver being lifted off the telephone.

" _You alone?"_ A male voice asked.

"Depends how long." Natsuo replied flatly in perfect english, casually glancing behind him to see if anyone was coming.

" _I'll be quick then, i'm glad to report you came through as advertised. We managed to get hold of the blueprints. With any luck, we might have a case for the international court to press charges. Anything to report on your end?"_

"They're already stepping security, we need to be a lot more careful about where we tread from now on." The ashikabi warned, continuing to walk down the corridor.

" _I see, and the raid?"_

"Will be proceeding as planned, but be advised the black one will on the case this time. It might not be as… Clean, this time around."

The was a pregnant pause, as if the man on the line was considering his informants words before he replied _._

" _We'll see about that. If anything happens, this conversation never occurred."_

The line cut, and was replaced by a dull monotonous beep. Natsuo sighed as he placed his phone back in his pocket. " _Things were going to get messy from here on out."_

"You seem troubled, my ashikabi." A chilling voice spoke from behind him.

A voice he knew all too well.

" _Speak of the devil and she shall appear."_ He breathed deep, and turned to regard his demon.

"You need anything, Karasuba?" He said with his trademark unreadable smile.

* * *

 ** _CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia._**

"Any progress?" Wendell asked, glancing over the shoulder of the chief computer engineer. Said man was pounding seemingly senseless lines of jargon furiously into the keyboard before slamming onto the enter key. He rubbed his hands with glee as the code compiled and the mystery blueprint files was laid bare on screen in front of him.

Though what exactly it was only left them with more questions than answers.

"What exactly are we looking at?" Wendell asked, his eyes skimming over the various details on screen.

The engineer took a moment to ponder the question before replying.

"No idea. Honestly from the lens, looks like some kind of focusing device, meant for a very high powered optical laser of some kind." He stated as he observed the schematics with his face barely 3 inches from the screen.

"Like some kind of alien death ray?" The CIA director offered with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. Like a death ray." The engineer confirmed before scratching his chin. He paused once he processed how ridiculous that notion sounded. "Is this guy forreal?!" He blurted out, scrunching his face as he turned to look up as his boss.

Wendell shrugged. "Guess when you have a crashed alien spaceship tucked away on your own private island, are mega rich and completely off your rocker, you tend have poor taste in hobbies."

He sighed.

Another otherwise inconclusive piece of evidence. At this rate, the international court of law would sooner believe it was going to rain Bud Light tomorrow, than believe the head of a leading Japanese conglomerate was plotting world domination with a death ray.

" _Could really use a drink now actually."_

The engineer only snorted in response.

* * *

 ** _Outside Izumo Inn, Central Tokyo, Japan._**

"Dammit! I lost again..." A buxom blonde cursed between bated breaths, feeling crushed under the large bundle of groceries tied to her back. Her brunette and similarly burdened counterpart however felt no such fatigue, and smiled back at her.

"That was a good race Tsukiumi!" The brunette exclaimed, turning to the blonde and grabbing her hands in hers. Her eyes seemed to sparkle in tune with the large grin she wore on her face.

Tsukiumi sighed.

"Fine Musubi, you get to sit beside Minato again." She conceded and looked away, unable to take how much said sekirei's eye shone at the mention of their ashikabi. " _I swear, i'm going to hit this girl someday."_ She grumbled internally.

"Ah, but don't give up Tsukiumi! You'll beat me someday!" Musubi enthusiastically encouraged her friend, raising a fist for further emphasis. One could swear there were flames roaring in the background as she struck her pose.

However she was also oblivious to how many raw nerves in Tsukiumi she just twitched by effectively rubbing the latter's defeat in her face.

"Ah i see!" Tsukiumi roared and crossed her arms. "You may have won the shopping race."

"But i'm still Minato's legal wife!" The water sekirei boasted, holding her head high as she started towards the gate of the quaint house that was the Izumo Inn.

"Ah! But Musubi is Minato's wife too!" Musubi wailed in protest, earning herself a death glare and a few more twitched nerves from Tsukiumi.

" _Yep, definitely going to hit her."_

* * *

The smiling demon's mouth curled into her signature cheshire grin.

"Just passing by after my medical review, but enough about me." Karasuba pressed her question again. "Something happened?" She inquired. "Or maybe, it's someone else vying for my ashikabi affection." The black sekirei covered her mouth in an exaggerated manner.

"Oh, whatever shall i do?" Karasuba cooed, holding her hands to her chest, she play-fainted. Though the only reaction that seemed to get out of Natsuo was an amused eye roll.

"Also, i didn't know you could speak english." The black sekirei recovered and resumed her probing, though this time her voice took a more stern tone. Her eyes too, had an acute iciness in the glare she held on him.

"Clerk, remember." Natsuo said, flashing his usual unreadable smile. "Occasionally, that involves translating documents."

"Oh, I see..." Her gaze narrowed and she raised an eyebrow, but later relaxed. Seemingly convinced, she let the topic go.

"Well, if that's all, i'll be going then." Natsuo said as he started back down the corridor.

"Oh? But surely you won't leave a lovely lady all by herself in this place will you?" Karasuba teased. "I mean, the hallways are so confusing. What if i get lost?" She pouted and gave him the puppy dog eyes, which given her reputation, would have been a sight to see.

"You're a big girl, i'm sure you'll be fine." Her ashikabi dismissed with a chuckle and waved her off.

"Aww, you're no fun." Karasuba chastised, smirking and narrowing her eyes as her ashikabi walked away.

" _And you're definitely hiding something."_

* * *

 **Author's note:** Might just be me, but i've always found Natsuo probably the most interesting out of all the ashikabi's in the series. Maybe because we don't really see much of his true motivations throughout the series.

He just sort of appeared wherever convenient most of the time as a neutral shapeshifter character, which for me added a more mystery to his character.

This fic is really an attempt to put another spin on his character and try to justify his mysterious qualities and perhaps some of his actions throughout the canon series. That said, if you haven't guessed already, this is going to be as far from the canon storyline as possible.

Anyways, hope you liked it and hopefully i'll see you in the next one.


	2. Chapter 2: Fateful Meetings

**Disclaimer:** I don't not own Sekirei or any references made.

Chapter Two: Fateful Meetings

* * *

"You can drop me off here." Karasuba said, gesturing to a patch pavement right beside an alleyway that lead into a residential area. Natsuo nodded and wordlessly turned the convertible towards it, stopping by the side of the road.

Not waiting for the car to fully stop, she undid her seatbelt and vaulted over the door, collecting her nodachi from the back seat of the car.

"I'll call when i'm done." The black sekirei said, giving a casual wave to her ashikabi as she started down the alley. Natsuo only nodded again, watching her from behind a pair of polarised sunglasses as she disappeared down the alley.

It was at her insistence that he decided to drive her around so she could run her 'errand' and given any other circumstance he would have denied her. But at this point, time was of the essence and if it meant she'd get off his back for the time being, he'd gladly take it.

Putting the car back in gear, he dropped the clutch and the Ferrari disappeared down the streets in a red streak and a screen of tyre smoke.

Karasuba scanned the house numbers as she walked down the asphalt road. It almost felt surreal how quaint this part of town was, so detached from the hustle and bustle of modern metropolitan life.

Finally, she came across the one she was looking for. A white small two story Japanese style cottage marked "Izumo Inn". Karasuba figured she should just ring the bell and ask for _her_ by name, but no sooner had she stepped up to the gate did a cold torrent of water land right on top of her, drenching her from head to toe.

"Ah, sorry about that!" She heard a female voice shout from behind the fence. "Stay right there i'll get you a towel!"

Karasuba heard the sound of a door opening, followed by loud thumbs of furniture being shifted before the gate finally unlocked and creaked open, and the brunette head of Musubi pop up from behind it.

"Ah! Karasuba!" She squealed and grabbed her senior's hands in her own, the notion of a towel long forgotten in her excitement.

"Nice to see you're still lively as ever Mu-chan." Karasuba smiled. "But about that towel…." The Black Sekirei turned to Musubi's left.

Puzzled, Musubi followed her gaze…

To where the said towel lay on the ground, in a puddle of water.

"Ahhhh!"

* * *

"I'm really sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" Musubi apologised as she bowed profusely to a half dressed Karasuba. The older sekirei only smiled fondly at the her juniors antics.

"I'm fine, Mu-chan." She consoled the brunette, before turning to put on her loaned slip, her clothes had been tossed into the tumble dryer before that. Musubi looked up as she did, and caught eye of the crest on her back. Her eyes immediately shone when she saw it.

"Ah! So you met your fated one?" Musubi gleamed up at her senior. "What is Karasuba's ashikabi like i wonder." She got a light chuckle in response.

"Has Mu-chan been winged too?" The older girl asked.

"Yes! Musubi has found her ashikabi too!" The brunette answered enthusiastically, breaking into a light hop. "Musubi's ashikabi is Minato. He is kind, caring and has a really big heart." She proclaimed, making a big circle with her arms for emphasis.

"I think that's all kind of the same thing…" Karasuba commented, causing Musubi to pause mid circle while her brain processed what she just said. She sheepishly scratched the back of her head when she realised her blunder.

"Yeah i guess it is…" However, undeterred, she resumed.

"But, he's a little weak too! Like that one time i gave him a light punch because he made a really mean joke. Then he just fell over and complained he couldn't feel his arm for a week." Mususbi huffed.

Karasuba snorted. " _Humans are such fragile creatures."_

"Ah but enough about me." The junior girl said. "What about your ashikabi?"

The Black Sekirei took a second to ponder about an answer to give. Somehow images of that day at the MBI viewing gallery crossed her mind.

The feelings of emptiness, of loss and seeking solace in destruction….

His wit, intuition, how he answers the phone.

And his perfect english…

" _i know you're hiding something."_

"You could say he's quite an... interesting character too." Karasuba smirked.

* * *

Sahashi Minato couldn't believe his luck, or lack of luck to be precise. He'd thought of just going out for a walk in the nice spring air and get away from his sekirei for a while, only to realise he'd left home without his wallet.

Which was why he was now at a convenience store counter desperately digging out any spare change on his person to pay for his bottle of coke. He could feel the metaphorical daggers in his back from the cashier and everyone in the queue, as he struggled with his jacket pocket.

A friendly hand tapped him on his shoulder. Minato turned, his gaze meeting a very handsome young man dressed in an sharp black suit and tie.

"Forgot your wallet?" The man asked, flashing him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah…" Minato replied, as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

The man nodded and reached in his jacket pocket, pulling out a very familiar looking black card. Minato immediately recognised it as the one that Tsukiumi was issued with. " _Is this guy a sekirei then?"_

"Put mine together with his, please." The man said as he placed his bottle of water on the counter and handed the cashier his card. All with perfect, practiced mannerisms. Minato couldn't help but be impressed by the amount of polish applied even to such a small gesture.

The cashier gruffly took the card and, after scanning the drinks through the barcode scanner, swiped the card and handed it back to the man with his receipt. Though if the man had an issue with the cashier's rudeness, he didn't show it and simply thanked him and left.

Minato followed in tow out of the store, where he found the man checking his phone by a striking red convertible Ferrari.

" _MBI employee?"_ Minato thought. " _Still, why would he have a black card?"_

"Erm, thanks for helping me back there." He started. "That was really stupid of me to forget."

"Ah, it's no problem." the man replied with a kind smile, making Minato feel even more awkward about conversing with the seemingly upper class human being. "It happens to everybody."

"Ah- My name is-"

"Sahashi Minato." The man cut him off mid sentence, causing alarm bells to go off in Minato's head.

"Currently you have 2 sekirei: Number 88 and 9." The man continued, gracefully stepping into his car.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage then." Minato recovering from his shock quickly enough to reply.

"Ichinomi Natsuo." The man replied, holding no animosity, though his tone turned serious.

"Nothing personal, but for your sake I hope we never meet again." He continued, starting his car and putting it in gear.

"It's probably not good news for you if we do." With that, Natsuo gunned the engine, and the red car sped off down the road, leaving behind a rather perplexed ashikabi.

* * *

The late afternoon sun glazed the scenery gold as long shadows flowed from every object it touched. The owner of Izumo Inn hummed a tune as she took it all in, her walk suited for a refined lady like herself, purposeful but unhurried.

"Well I'll be going then, Mu-chan."

"Yep! Remember our promise Karasuba!" The spirited sekirei shouted, the mention of that name causing Miya to stop in her tracks.

She had gone out during the day to restock some of the inn necessities, and clearly some unfavourable characters have entered her husband's dwelling while she was gone.

Miya's face twisted into a scowl as Karasuba started walking towards her direction.

The grey haired woman's eyes blinked in recognition, though her mouth was still twisted in her usual conceited smirk.

"Fancy meeting you here." She greeted, earning a growl from her ex-superior.

"I told you never set foot in his house didn't i?" Miya said dryly. "Do you have a deathwish?"

"Getting a little ahead of yourself aren't you?" Karasuba taunted, as her hand shifted to the nodachi on her hip. "So sure you can beat me? What would your husband think?"

A nerve twitched inside Miya and a hand shot beneath her other sleeve, tightening on a hidden knife she kept with her, her shopping bag long forgotten on the pavement.

Karasuba twitched with excitement and overflowing bloodlust when she saw her taunt had struck a nerve. But that quickly went away the moment Miya relaxed her grip and picked up her shopping bags.

"He would have not wanted to see me fight someone as unsavoury as MBI's dog." Miya said flatly and continued walking back to the house, past Karasuba, who had likewise dropped her guard.

"But what I said stands." Miya warned. "If you dare step inside my husband's house again, i will kill you."

"I look forward to it." Karasuba nodded with a sadistic grin.

* * *

Wendell Hunt looked up from his thick stack of documents, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Yawning he turned to the digital clock on his desk.

" _11 P.M. already?"_ He sighed. " _Must have stayed longer than i expected."_

The CIA director got up from his chair and packed up his desk. He was about to grab his coat of the rack and leave when his phone rang. Wendell rolled his eyes and sighed as he quickly went through a mental list of who might be calling at this time. Finding no one, he picked up the phone.

"Yes?" He answered slightly impatient.

" _It's me."_ An accented female voice answered.

"Oh." He replied, quizzical at why _she_ would be calling at this time. "What've you got for me?"

" _Straight to business huh? Typical of you Americans."_ The woman chastised amusingly.

"Well, considering that it's 11 at night and I was on my way out of my office already. You can probably guess i'm not very interested in a catch up." Wendell said flatly, trying to stifle another yawn.

" _Fair enough."_ The woman mused. " _I went over the blueprint you sent, unfortunately i got nothing concrete. Could be a focusing mechanism, or it could just simply be a very high powered microscope. It's too vague to tell."_

"I figured as much" The man sighed. "Anything else?"

" _Yes, as you know, the second stage of the sekirei plan involves MBI effectively locking down Tokyo."_

"Yes, and they're going to conduct raids to weed out all foreign military and intelligence operatives. As well as effectively hold the entire Japanese public hostage by threatening to freeze all finances in the country, if the government doesn't hand the capital city over to them."

"So they can have a complete information blackout on what's happening within Tokyo." Wendell finished.

" _Exactly, however i did some thinking and came up with this."_ Wendell heard a electronic blip behind him, and turned to see that his computer had switched itself back on.

"How did you do that?" He asked, more amazed than anything.

" _Your servers are full of cookies that can be infected with my modified malware, all it took was a little hocus pocus to generate a script to control individual terminals."_ The woman said prosaically, as if it were to most natural thing to do if one wanted to crack into one of the most secure networks in the USA.

" _Anyways, don't sweat the small stuff. Check this out."_ She continued, and a new window opened on screen. Wendell looked the diagram, but his mind drew a blank.

"What exactly am i looking at?"

" _A way to... how would you say… 'Fuck shit up'… Even more for the MBI informations network. That way we could at least preempt and plan our next move. Maybe help us turn the tide of the battle should there be one."_

"How would you do tha-" Another window opened before he could finish, causing him to roll his eyes. It was a terminal window, with a large chunk of source code.

" _The same way i tapped into your network. Unfortunated MBIs intranet is not as electronically tainted as yours, so i still haven't found a way of sending it to them. Which is why i haven't used it yet."_

"So you need someone on the inside to upload it?" He heard a sigh from the other end.

" _Yes."_ She conceded. " _As much as i don't like that option."_

Wendell felt her apprehension.

"Still don't trust him?"

" _No."_ She replied. " _And not anytime soon."_

" _But i supposed the enemy of my enemy is my friend."_

* * *

If this was supposed to be the start to an action film, it would be the last choice any good director would pick for a setting. But here they were, in a back alley on a serene, peaceful afternoon. None of which seemed to stifle the amount of killer intent the opponents had for each other.

"Ah Mitsuha stop, you can't beat her." A woman clad in a long white flowing robe said to her very aggravated partner. The blonde however ignored her, continuing to glare with the utmost contempt at the challenger in front of them.

The Black Sekirei only smiled, flexing her fingers as she itched to draw her nodachi.

"Are you gonna stand there and talk all day?" Karasuba taunted. "I don't like to be kept waiting you know."

"Bitch, I'll show you." Mitsuha snapped back, tensing at the taunt and drawing back her stance, whip curled to her side in preparation for a strike. Though rather than fazing the smiling demon, all it seemed to achieve was make her sardonic smile wider.

"Mitsuha, she's number 4, the murderous Black Sekirei." Akitsu warned as she grabbed Mitsuha by the shoulder, jerking her back. "You'll die if you fight her."

"Well I've never heard of her!" The blonde snapped back, growing more annoyed by her friend's apparent lack of faith in her ability. "And Black Sekirei or not, this bitch just challenged me to a fight, so she's going down!"

"Honestly i'm a little hurt you haven't heard of me." Karasuba sing-songed with an exaggerated pout, further aggravating her opponent.

"However my friend here," She shook her sheathed nodachi for emphasis. "thinks that Miss Scrapped Number over there has the right idea."

Akitsu twitched at the mention of that unsavoury title, but however made no attempt at a retort. Mitsuha on the other hand, expressed no such restraint.

"Alright that's it! You asked for it!" With a strong shove, the blonde broke free from Akitsu's grip and charged with blinding speed, her coiled whip drawn up like a cobra in attack mode.

"Mitsuha!" Akitsu pleaded but to no avail.

Karasuba smirked, and responded by taking a lazy step forward, her hand resting slack on the grip of her nodachi.

A split second flash, a surreal bel canto of steel cutting through air then flesh, followed by the finality of a spray of arterial blood like a finishing stroke to a renaissance masterpiece.

It took Mitsuha a second to realise she was staring at her own dismembered midsection from the ground, before blood loss did the rest.

The Smiling Demon turned Akitsu, allowing her sword arm to fall limp by her side.

"So, you wanna go next?" She asked, the bloodstains on her face and clothes giving her an even more deranged appearance.

Akitsu staggered back, before turning tail and breaking into a full sprint down the alleyway, desperate to get away from the infamous murderer.

"I suppose not." Karasuba chuckled, giving her sword a firm swipe to remove the blood before sheathing it. She turned to the mutilated body on the floor. "Now to wait for someone to clean this up."

The Black Sekirei cracked her neck.

"Well that was refreshing."

* * *

"Sekirei Number 59 was just disabled ma'am. Seems to be a problem with her shutdown protocol." An engineer reported. "I got no vital signs here. Last seen in combat with Number 4."

The lead researcher, Sahashi Takami felt her blood run cold at the mention of Karasuba's number. She paused her writing and snuffed out her cigarette.

Takami Takami stoically walked over to the engineer, hands in the pockets of her lab coat, to analyse the data collected. Though her instincts told her this was more to confirm her suspicions.

This was going to happen eventually.

"No signs she was unwinged as well." The engineer continued, perusing the information screens perplexed at the abnormality.

"Can we bring up a security camera feed?" Takami asked.

"Yes ma'am." The engineer sharply acknowledged, keying a few lines of code into the terminal. They were quickly linked to a feed from one of the many cameras MBI had placed throughout the city specially to monitor sekirei activity.

The sight that greeted them however, made them regret that decision.

* * *

The piercing ringing of his mobile broke the monotonous drone of office machines. Natsuo promptly answered it.

"Ichinomi here." He said.

" _I need you to do something for me."_ A female voice replied, causing him to raise an eyebrow. Now why would _she_ be dealing with him directly? He thought.

"I'm listening." Natsuo took a stealthy glance round before he replied, intrigued.

* * *

Modernity is a double edged sword. On one hand it provides safety, security and convenience. Think of what all the world would be like without mobile phones, supermarkets and street lighting for example.

But on the other hand, modernity has also provided much in the way of creating conflict, weapons production, unethical surveillance and violation of civil rights.

Right now, it was that side of modernity, that an ashikabi and his sekirei were fighting against. They had been running for the past hour or so, from exit to exit, trying to find a highway or some sort of road that MBI had not closed off. To escape the second stage.

Finally they found one.

A small two way bridge, leading out to southern Kyushu. The pair almost jumped for joy at their luck, before running down the bridge to freedom.

"Now where do ya think you're going?" A female voice called out from behind them, immediately making their hearts to sink into the abyss of desperation. "Not planning on running away are you?"

"Who are you?!" The runaway sekirei, a muscular woman with short hair, clad in form fitting clothing snapped. Her ashikabi, a rather scrawny youth squirmed behind her.

"Disciplinary Squadron, Number 105, Benitsubasa." The petite, pink haired girl stated, with an arrogant smirk plastered on her face.

"What now?" The young ashikabi fearfully asked, as he attempted to hide behind his sekirei. She however was preoccupied with sizing up the Red Sekirei who was casually striding towards them.

She growled.

"Guess we'll have to fight then!" The runaway sekirei shouted, raising her tonfas and charging towards Benitsubasa.

"Wrong answer fuckface." The petite girl snorted and gracefully dodged her opponent's opening strike. She then doubled back, going into a handstand, and followed through with a roundhouse kick.

The sekirei managed to dodge in time, but not before the edge of the kick took off a shred of clothing from her chest. Benitsubasa seamlessly transitioned from the kick, back into her fighting stance.

"Oh, i'm so gonna enjoy breaking every bone in your body." The Red Sekirei flashed a cocky smile as she put one arm behind her and raised her other hand in front of her and beckoned her opponent, Bruce Lee style.

The taller sekirei growled and charged again, throwing a powerful tonfa strike aimed for the Rei Sekirei's head.

"Too slow!" Benitsubasa crowed as she ducked low, sliding beneath the strike and under her opponent's guard, flowing into a quick uppercut right into the woman's gut.

Her first disabling blow dealt, she vaulted back, kicking up with her heels as she back flipped and connecting with the other sekirei's jaw.

Hearing the deathly sound of bones snapping, the young ashikabi dropped to his knees, staring with a gaze of disbelief at his fallen companion, motionless on the ground.

"Well that was fun." Benitsubasa dusted off her clothes and walked up to the limp body.

Kneeling, she pulled back the sekirei's clothing, revealing the winging crest tattooed on her trapezius. The Red Sekirei pressed her hand to it.

"Fist of my pledge, go forth and shatter the bond of this sekirei."

The tattoo glowed and vanished.

* * *

No one really ever came into the head office at MBI, unless they had a problem or a death wish. So when one furious head of MBI research, Sahashi Takami stormed through the obscenely grand office, it's quite a big deal.

A clipboard slamed into Minaka's desk with a sharp snap, jolting the man from his afternoon doze.

"Ah, Takami, what a pleasant surprise." The head of MBI greeted groggily.

"Cut the bullshit!" Takami screamed, turning the clipboard loaded with photos of Mitsuha's murder over to Minaka. He took a look at the contents and raised an eyebrow.

"I see our dear Karasuba has been busy?" Minaka observed, shrugging. "I don't see the issue here." he continued, earning himself another slam of the desk from the head researcher.

"The issue, is that she straight up killed her." Takami screamed, shoving at an autopsy photo of Mitsuha's dismembered body into Minaka's face with enough force to almost push him off his chair. "If Karasuba had exercised a bit more restraint like you said she would, Number 59 would would only be in stasis right now, not in a fucking morgue freezer!"

"So what's the next part of this genius plan of yours? We're supposed to let your pet aliens slaughter each other now?" She sneered, pointing an accusatory finger and a steely eyed gaze at the man in front of her.

"Number Four is a special case, so until her behaviour severely compromises the plan or an event of insubordination, I will treat this as an isolated incident." Minaka stated firmly.

"Bullshit, Minaka! You know what she's capable off. What about collateral damage? Civilian casualties? You really haven't thought this through, have you?!" Takami protested angrily. "If you don't do something about it, once the game kicks off for real, the bodies are going to start piling up."

"Hence, i relegated her to the Disciplinary Squadron." Minaka countered flatly. "Where her, talents, could be better utilised."

Takami shook, outraged at his proposition.

"My son! No, our son, is part of the sekirei plan! If you don't do this for me then at least do this for him!" She screamed, trying to appeal to the last of Minaka's sensibilities.

"Well then, he can take pride in the fact he is doing God's work in reshaping the world." The head of MBI shrugged, smiling.

"You're really going to just let this go aren't you?" The head researcher asked coldly, as she massaged her forehead, feeling the onset of a massive headache.

All she got in response was another noncommittal shrug.

"God damn you you piece of sh-, uggghhh!" Takami screamed, kicking over a chair and hurling an ornament on Minaka's desk through a large glass window before storming out of the office in hail of broken glass shards.

"Oh and close the door on your way..." The gargantuan wooden door slammed shut before Minaka got a chance to finish his sentence.

"...out."

* * *

The door to the lower vault hissed and opened, allowing Minaka to enter. It was a rather large, circular room, with metallic walls bathed in dim purple light. At its center, a round glass chamber.

Minaka walked up to the chamber, looking forlornly at the contents within. Within the chamber stood 8 pedestals. Each of them less one, had a inverted cone shaped glass crystal on it, and within each of them, a scarlet crystal sphere.

"Soon, my precious. Soon." Minaka whispered, storking the glass affectionately. "Once I find the last of your sisters, and kill that blasphemer who dared to take her away from me." His face contorted into a murderous glare towards the empty pedestal.

"Then, we will cleanse this world with fire." He sneered, malice thick in his voice.

"And reshape it anew."

* * *

" _Hound 1, this is Hound 2, come in over."_ Benitsubasa visibly cringed as the overbearing screech of feedback filled her ears. They've been instructed to use comm sets and trackers so they could be accounted for at all times on the MBI battle grid.

Which would have made sense, if the audio levels had actually been tuned properly.

" _Sometimes i wonder how they even get things done."_ The Red Sekirei sighed, wanting more and more to bang her head onto the roof of the building she was on top of.

" _Benihime, you doing ok down there?"_ Her ashikabi asked over the comms, immediately making her reconsider her decision.

" _Ah, I'm fine Natsuo!"_ She replied, sounding a lot more chipper after hearing her ashikabi's voice.

Natsuo couldn't help but smile at her fickle mindedness as he watched the CCTV feed. He had found Number 105's bipolar behaviour traits troublesome at first, but with time learnt to accept and preempt her bouts of foul mouthed violence. It also helped that she could be genuinely sweet if she wanted to be, helping him out as a de facto assistant in his day job and such.

" _It's so sweet I think I'm going to get diabetes soon."_ Another voice, this one deeper and more gloomy, piped up. Benitsubasa didn't need to turn around to see who it was. Just the familiarity of her presence from their shared bond of their ashikabi gave her away.

" _Shut up Haihane, no one asked you anything!"_ Benitsubasa snapped back, annoyed that her stream of potential compliments had been disrupted by her teammate.

" _Now now, play nice you two."_ Natsuo codelled over the comms, and was given a huff from Benitsubasa in reply.

Number 108, Haihane, took her place behind her teammate and sister-bound sekirei.

While Benitsubasa was sweet on the outside and the embodiment of fury itself when irked, The Blue Sekirei was the exact opposite. It was as if fate was having a laugh at Natsuo's expense when he designed the social chemistry between them.

Her menacing appearance of dark makeup, a body wrapped in bandages and hooked steel claws, was just a disguise that hid her casual, laid back and lazy indoors personality. It also didn't help that Haihane often teased Benitsubasa about her small breasts.

" _But really what are we even looking for?"_ Haihane asked dryly. " _I really don't see how this is worth missing 'The Walking Dead' over."_

" _You're still going on about that?!"_ Benitsubasa shouted, as she glided gracefully through the air. " _What's with you and watching stuff with dead people anyways?"_

" _I see dead people."_ Haihane humorously quoted with perfect impression, a line from a famous horror movie in response.

" _Like hell you do!"_ The Red Sekirei shot back.

" _We've received reports that a group of individuals were seen scouting the checkpoints in this area. Intel suggests it is highly likely the mole is among them, or at the very least, it's someone trying to escape the game."_ Natsuo announced, with slight amusement in his voice.

" _Heh? Didn't they get the memo already when i broke that girls face in?"_ The Red Sekirei faked a sigh as she bounced from rooftop to rooftop, eyes scouring for anything suspicious.

" _Seriously, these people never learn."_ She sighed.

" _Well why would they?"_ Haihane quipped up behind her. " _I mean, getting your teeth kicked in by some vulgar flat chested teenager isn't much of a story now is it?"_

" _Fuck you."_ Benitsubasa shot back, though her anger only encouraged more teasing from her sister-bound sekirei.

" _Yeah, you wish."_ The Blue Sekirei laughed. Benitsubasa simply huffed and rolled her eyes in response.

* * *

A brown haired youth watched from behind a wall as the two disciplinary squad sekirei scouted around the street, quickly ducking back as a searchlight swept past his hiding spot.

He heaved a sigh of relief as they seemed to have found nothing and leaped away from the adjacent rooftop, a couple of military spec Black Hawk helicopters roaring past in tow.

"They're gone, Kuno." He said to the blonde girl huddled to his chest.

"I'm scared, Shigi." Number 95 whispered, pulling her ashikabi closer to her, still not daring to look up from the ground.

"It's going to be alright." Shigi reassured her, stroking her hair. "It's going to be alright."

"We just need some help."

* * *

"Found anything yet?" Minaka questioned while pacing the length of his grand office. Natsuo schooled his expression into his best poker face before answering.

"Negative sir, leads so far have been inconclusive. The trail seems to have gone cold." He said, as flatly as he could make himself sound.

Minaka paused, and stroked his chin while he considered Natsuo's words. Benitsubasa felt a drop of cold sweat drip down her back as she assessed the mood. Haihane in contrast, just remained her usual bored self.

The head of MBI sighed before turning back to the disciplinary squad ashikabi.

"Well, keep looking." The white haired man sighed. "In the meantime, we need to move things along with the second stage." Minaka continued going to his desk to retrieve a electronic tablet from one of the drawers.

"The blockades have been set, and the Japanese government is too powerless to do anything to stop us. I basically have them by the balls now." He snorted as he handed the tablet over to Natsuo, who accepted it with a raised eyebrow.

"Sir?" He asked.

"A dossier of all foreign safehouses and operatives." Minaka replied.

"We will make the announcement and begin the attack tonight. I'm assigning your team to some regular assets so you can assist them." The head of MBI continued. "I'm gonna show these motherfuckers what happens when they fuck with my plans."

Natsuo tried his very best not to appear shocked, defaulting to his unreadable smile. " _That's two weeks ahead of schedule."_ He mentally cursed.

"Search and destroy."

* * *

"What do you mean you can't do anything about it?!" Natsuo yelled into the phone, as he locked the fire escape door to the top floor viewing platform.

"The board has discussed this beforehand, we can't do anything about it on such short notice." Wendell's voice orated mechanically.

"It would only raise suspicion and risk compromising you, our closest agent." He explained. "We can't risk that."

"I don't care what happens to me. Just get these people out of there now!" The ashikabi retorted.

"Look, i don't like it either, but my hands are tied over here. I can't help you even if i wanted to." The CIA director conceded. "They're trained agents, they understand the risks."

"Sorry but, they're on their own now." Natsuo fell silent at these words.

"Go through with the plan, agent." Wendell concluded, putting an unspoken emphasis on the last word. "The less evidence they have of your involvement, the better."

With that, the line went dead.

"Goddammit!" Natsuo cursed under his breath.

* * *

"You want to escape the plan you say?" Minato asked, seemingly perplexed at his latest request. All eyes around the dining table, save for a burly man who was too engrossed at the moment with stuffing his face were on Shigi and his sekirei.

"Yes, if I were to fight, Kuno here would not stand a chance." His confirmed with a firm nod, though his mention of her uselessness seemed to have driven a stake into Kuno's heart.

"I'm sorry, Shigi…." She whimpered, sniffling as tears formed beneath her puppy dog eyes.

"It's fine Kuno." Shigi assured her, patting her head. "But still, at this rate the best course of action is to escape."

"However MBI has blockaded all the roads going in and out, and the disciplinary squad has so far eliminated all who tried." Minato mused as he considered the proposition.

He was jolted from his thoughts when a certain volatile blonde slammed her hand onto the dining table.

"I disapprove of this. Escaping the battle on the grounds of weakness is cowardly." Tsukiumi chastised, pointing accusingly at the offending couple.

"But Tsukiumi! For the sake of their love, we must help them. A sekirei must remain with their ashikabi forever, it is our vow." Musubi protested, somehow instinctively shifting closer to Minato as she did. Much to her sister-bound's annoyance.

"Then they should do the honourable thing and fight to keep their love." The blonde countered firmly, crossing her arms over her chest.

An uncomfortable silence followed, with everyone, save one, deep in consideration for both proposed points of view.

"I'll help you." Minato said, earning a round of stares from everyone.

"Minato!" Both his sekirei exclaimed in unison, one in elation and the other in anguish.

"You'll help too right, Seio?" Minato turned to the burly man, who at this point was busy wolfing down his third helping of rice.

"What? Don't involve me in your problems kid." Seio replied in between large mouthfuls.

"Yeah, why should we have to help you?!" His sekirei, the lightning twins, Hikari and Hibiki added in unision. "We owe you nothing!"

"Ah, some freeloaders in my husband's house are refusing to pull their own weight." Miya mock sighed, a sudden aura of dark, overwhelming dread permeated from behind her.

"Maybe i shall do the honourable thing and kick them out forever." She continued with the most inappropriately sweet smile, while menacingly clutching a broom.

One could swear a hannya mask with glowing red eyes appeared out of the darkness behind her, growling at the three offending ones.

HIkari and Hibiki squealed, Seio choked.

"Now, now. No need to get hasty." He croaked in between coughs, with the twins patting his back. "We were only taking our time to consider."

"Well consider faster." Miya cooed, the mask disappearing.

Tsukiumi however was absolutely livid.

"You are my ashikabi, Minato. However i cannot agree with something that is against my principle." She sighed, dejected. "I refuse to help you let them escape."

"I understand, Tsukiumi." Minato replied, nodding with an affectionate smile. He reached over and gave Tsukiumi's hand a firm squeeze, causing her to tense at her lover's touch. She felt a rush of heat as a blush threatened to creep up her face, but quickly banished it with a firm clearing of her throat and withdrawing of her hand.

"I'm sorry but your tricks won't work on me this time." She admonished, and returned to folding her arms. Tsukiumi looked away, however remnants of the blush remained.

Musubi watched this interaction with the greatest fascination. As if the whole new world of nonverbal conversation was just opened to the usually outwardly vocal girl.

"I didn't mean that as a trick." Minato apologised, rubbing the back of his head and laughing sheepishly. "I'm sorry if you felt that way."

" _Idiot, stop saying all the right things already."_ Tsukiumi scolded him mentally, still refusing to make eye contact.

"Just come home safe." She finished.

* * *

 **Authors note:** So i'm in the process working to find a balanced output to posting these chapters. If you found the pilot chapter short, it was because i haven't really got a sense yet of how much of the world i'm going to flesh out in this. So i didn't want to make it too long and draggy, but just focus on telling key aspects of the story and not leave any plot holes, which is a real danger when you're writing AU stuff. What changed was that my friend, who helps me with proof reading, is a pretty big fan of "In Flight", told me that one chapter in that is about 10-12k words long.

While i don't plan on building something to that scale yet (not that i'm even that good in the first place), a bit more detail couldn't hurt. So with that in mind i made the decision to try and stretch the length as much as possible without feeling too draggy. There was also the case of relevance to the chapter title, and some concerns if i keep writing i might end up straying too much from the theme i've set. So really, this is just a fine balancing act of knowing when to go for it and when to pull back.

I've settled on about 6k words for now, because i find it gives me enough length to do some important dialogue and character development stuff.

Also, leave a review guys, because that really validates our efforts in bringing this story to life. I'm not a writer, and i just do this as an interest so even if you hate it, please tell me why, so i can do it better next time.

Peace and Love guys.


	3. Chapter 3: Assault

Chapter 3: Assault

* * *

A loud depressurising hiss woke a little girl from the empty dark void of stasis sleep. Followed by the mechanical whirring of the hydraulics, lifting the great weight of the cryogenic pod open, flooding its interior with cold white light.

The brightness of the outside world pierced Kusano's untested eyes, forcing her to squeeze them shut tighter. She tentatively opened them again, her gaze meeting with the blurry sight of a white haired woman in a long white coat, surrounded by men dressed in a similar fashion.

She stared up at the woman, with a peculiar mix of both fear and fascination. The woman knelt in front of Kusano and stretched a hand towards her.

Kusano recoiled in fright, attempting to retreat deeper into the confines of the stasis pod.

"It's ok, we won't hurt you." The woman assured, flashing her a gentle motherly smile.

Her voice gave the little sekirei pause. They say children have an innate ability, as part of their innocence, to tell when someone was lying or not.

The white haired woman's voice didn't just sound genuine. It felt genuine. Kusano concluded there and then she could trust her completely.

She crawled towards the woman and reached out to touch her hand. It felt calloused and dry, but warm and gentle all the same.

"That's a good girl." The woman whispered as she closed her hand around Kusano's, going to stroke Kusano's hair with her other hand. The young sekirei tensed at the contact, but soon relaxed, feeling euphoric warmth wash over her at the touch.

"My name is Sahashi Takami." The woman said gently. "What is your name?"

"Ku-kusano" The young sekirei stuttered shyly.

"That is a nice name, Kusano-chan." Takami said as she continued to stroke Kusano's long brown hair.

* * *

Akitsu gulped nervously as she stood before the doors of her ashikabi's quarters. Quarters, because the family home was very much a mansion and Higa's room would have passed off as what some would consider a small house.

Finding her resolve, she knocked three times and entered, the large oak doors silently swinging open. Her ashikabi laid, in his usual chaise longue in the center of the main hall, sipping a drink. His favourite sekirei, Number five; Mustu, stood attentively behind him.

"Ah, Akitsu." Higa greeted chipperly, rising from his seat. "How was the search, found anything interesting? Where's Mitsuha by the way?"

Akitsu swallowed hard as she faced the bombarded of questions. She inhaled sharply before responding.

"We found nothing, Higa-sama." She began, stiffening immediately as she felt a pang of dread when she saw her ashikabi's face fall.

"Moreover Mitsuha was killed when she challenged Number four, Karasuba to a fight." Akitsu finished. He just sat, his expression now an unreadable mask. The uncomfortable silence was telling of his mood.

"Higa-sama, I-" Akitsu offered but was promptly cut off by a wave of dismissal from her ashikabi.

"No Akitsu, she failed." Higa stated flatly. "And she knew that I don't tolerate failures."

Akitsu let out a soft exhale and quietly nodded.

"Anything else?" He asked.

"No, that is all. Higa-sama." Akitsu replied softly with a small shake of her head.

"Good." He said, clapping his hands together. "Dismissed."

The ice sekirei quickly turned and left the room and the uncomfortable silence returned.

Mutsu turned to his ashikabi.

"Higa-sama." He began, only to be cut off by the loud crash of a drinking glass shattering against the immaculate marble wall. Higa sat, his arm outstretched, shaking with fury.

"Piece of shit!" The young ashikabi shouted, as he proceeded to wreck the coffee table in front of him.

* * *

The afternoon sun tracked across the Tokyo skyline, bathing the modestly decorated, but classy Disciplinary Squadron longue in a wash of golden orange.

Natsuo scrolled through the last of the documents he was perusing on the tablet, before turning it off and chucking it on the sofa he was sitting on. Benitsubasa was sprawled out, napping on the other sofa adjacent to him. She had ear phones on, loud sounds of thrash metal music blaring out of them.

Wendell had said that the CIA would not be intervening in this attack, however he did not explicitly give an order for Natsuo himself not to be "involved" while the attack was in motion.

Technically there was no insubordination of general instruction there.

But first, Natsuo needed to gather a few personal effects.

He silently wafted across the carpeted floor, being careful not to wake Benitsubasa. Reaching the drink cabinet he slowly opened it and peeled off the false bottom, revealing the dark form of a Beretta and a full spare clip that glowed a peculiar blue hidden under it.

Taking up the pistol, he ejected the magazine and checked the rounds. The tips of the bullets were transparent and filled with a fluorescent blue fluid. Natsuo slapped the magazine back into the pistol and cocked it.

He dug further into the hidden compartment, withdrawing along with the gun, a concealed carry holster. However, the sudden rustle of fabric behind him broke him from his task and he quickly slapped the items back into the drawer and closed the false bottom.

" _Well, so much for that plan."_ The ashikabi sighed internally. He turned, his gaze meeting with a disheveled and groggy Red Sekirei sprawled out uncouthly on the sofa, rubbing her eyes and yawning loudly.

"Good morning, Benihime." The Red Sekirei heard someone call her name, her brain hazily trying to find meaning in the words as she rubbed her teary eyes. She groaned loudly and stretched, yawning again.

"Benihime, Benihime, I'm sure I've heard that before… Ah, yes that my nickname." Her mind reasoned as it worked through the grogginess. "But only Natsuo calls me that…."

Then it clicked.

"Oh fuck!" Benitsubasa squeaked, jumped, and proceeded to quickly straighten out her appearance. Giving herself a quickly once over, she awkwardly cleared her throat and turned back to her ashikabi.

"Ah! Hey Natsuo." She greeted, following with a sheepish laugh and a wave.

"Slept well?" Natsuo asked with a small smile.

"Yeah…" Benitsubasa replied, still laughing awkwardly while trying to straighten out her side ponytail. Natsuo's mobile phone rang, catching both of their attentions. He checked it, though fully expecting the contents of the message left for him.

"Shall we?" The Disciplinary Squad's ashikabi asked his sekirei, holding out the crook of his arm and beckoning her with a smile. Benitsubasa felt her body temperature rise several degrees at his gesture.

"Let's." The Red Sekirei beamed and latched on the Natsuo's arm as they left the room.

* * *

Karasuba threw a wide decapitating slash, with full confidence that it would cut her opponent's head off. Which was why she was shocked when she realised she missed.

The hooded spectre ducked below the blade's arc, allowing it to miss by a mere inch. She followed through by ramming her shoulder straight into Karasuba, breaking the Black Sekirei's guard with brute force.

Karasuba grunted as she was thrown back. Her eyes shot open though, as she felt a hand close around her sword arm. She immediately knew what was to follow but reacted too slow to stop it.

The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth as she felt the crippling blow of an elbow being driven into her solar plexus. She keeled over from the impact.

"This again?" The shadow asked dryly.

Karasuna broke the hold with a strong shove and followed up with another low slash, this one aimed to cut her opponent clean in half at the waist.

But like the earlier attempt, her attack missed it's mark.

"You're getting sloppy Karasuba-chan." The specter mocked cheekily, touching a nerve in the gray haired woman.

"Shut up!" The Black Sekirei roared, leaping forward and bringing her nodachi up for a vertical slash. But the hooded spectre proved too quick and intercepted her on the way down with another swift blow to the gut and followed with another to her face.

Karasuba's sword went flying, clattering as it hit the floor, as she was sent sailing backwards.

"Come on…" Her opponent pouted as she strided over. Grabbing Karasuba by the neck and lifting her off the ground. The spectre's hood falling off her head as she did, revealing her face. "You can do better than that."

The Black Sekirei struggled helplessly against the spectre's grip, unable to break free. Her eyes caught sight of the her assailant's face beneath her brown hair. A face she knew all too well.

"Let me go Yume!" Karasuba demanded, kicking and screaming against Yume's vice grip. "I owe you nothing!"

"You know fully well, I'm nothing more than a figment of your imagination, Karasuba-chan." Yume mocked patronisingly, an uncharacteristically sardonic smile breaking across her gentle features. "It is you who should be letting me go."

"But you can't, can you?" She continued "You will never release me from your psyche. You know why? Because you're afraid, Karasuba."

"Shut up!" Karasuba screamed and bashed at Yume's forearm, but the brunette's grip refused to budge. "Shut up!"

"Why do you seek power?" Yume continued to probe. "What are you afraid of?"

"SHUT UP! I'M NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING!" Karasuba almost pleaded. "JUST GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Karasuba's eyes shot open and she felt herself inhale sharply, shivering as the skin on her back registered the sweat soaked shift she was wearing. She was back in her room, sitting on a chair with her sword lying on her lap, and a damp cleaning cloth in her left hand.

She lifted her hand to see a long cut on her palm under patch of fresh blood. She must have gripped the cloth so hard, it cut through the blade.

The gray haired woman shot up, dropped her sword on the carpet and quickly retrieved a medicine box she kept on her dressing table. She quickly pulled off the lid, almost ripping it apart.

Grabbing a packet of pills from inside the box, she popped one open and swallowed it.

Karasuba keeled over, coughing as she tried to suppress a gag. As she lifted her head, her eyes caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. She narrowed her eyes in disgust at her disheveled reflection staring back at her.

* * *

" _How long has it been since you slept?" Dr Sahashi asked her, jotting down previous observations on her clipboard_

" _Not since that person died." She replied in her usual nonchalant demeanor, tapping her fingers on the table._

" _That would explain a great deal." The doctor stated flatly, setting her clipboard down. She walked over to a rather elaborate medicine cabinet and after punching in the code to unlock it, presented her with a packet of pills._

" _Going to put me on crazy meds now, doctor?" The Black Sekirei quipped as she noted the box's labels, unamused._

" _Not quite." The head researcher replied as she tossed the box across the table. "However, the fact that you highlighted your nightmares to me suggests that it is a more serious problem than you care to admit."_

 _Her observation earned her a venomous glare from her patient._

" _If the problem persists, come back to me."_

"You bitch." Karasuba hissed at the reflection in the mirror, clenching her hand tighter, causing more blood to ooze from the cut all over the mirror's surface.

"See what you make me do?"

* * *

"That's a very bold plan, Minato." Seio said as he looked through the marked map on the table again with the rest of the team. "You sure it's going to work?"

"I hope so." Came a curt reply. "I can't think of anything else that would work better."

The rest had fallen into a tense silence, the plan having just been revealed to them. What they heard was so brazenly reckless, it defied all forms of known logic taught to them with regards to attack plans.

Seio shifted uncomfortably.

However, like Minato said, none of them could think of anything better.

"So, for the benefit of everyone here, let's go over the plan again." The younger ashikabi announced to all present.

"The attack begins at 2200 hours."

"We arrive at slip road to the main power grid that powers the area between Tokyo to Kyushu." Hikari and Hibiki started. "We'll destroy the main generator and plunge the whole area for a 15 kilometer radius into darkness."

"It would be at least 10 minutes before the backup generators kick in." Seio nodded.

"We'll use that time to make a run for it down the bridge. Safe into the Japanese government's jurisdiction." Shigi acknowledged, with a tense Kuno clinging tightly to his arm.

"And Musubi will take care of any MBI resistance along the bridge." The cheerful Number 88 added, pumping a fist into the air. Seio caught it and pushed it, along with some of Musubi's enthusiasm down. That earned him a look of perplexity from her and her ashikabi.

"Problem?" Minato asked, concerned.

"From the power station we would need at least 5 minutes to run back to the bridge to assist you and Musubi, and that if there are no hiccups along the way." Seio said cryptically.

"If the disciplinary squadron shows up before that time, you'd be fighting a two on one." He continued. "I know Musubi is strong but, surely that's too much a risk to take."

"I know. But i don't have much choice." Minato conceded with a sigh. "Hikari and Hibiki can only work at maximum potential if they're together."

"Though having an element type with me would be better for my chances, since as far as we know, the disciplinary squad doesn't have one."

Unbeknownst to them, Tsukiumi had been eavesdropping on their discussion from the outside. The Water Sekirei's face twisted into a scowl at the mention of element types, as feelings of conflict grew within her heart.

"You want to help them, don't you." The voice of Miya broke her from her inner train of thought, though more of a statement than a question. She looked up at the landlady, who wore a homely smile on her face.

"You make it sound so easy." Tsukiumi replied flatly as she crossed her arms, though the slight quiver in her conviction betrayed her. "I won't give up my principles just like that."

"Well, you definately wear your heart on your sleeve, i'll give you that." Miya nodded amusedly. "Tell me Tsukiumi, is it truly principle, or just your pride that's stopping you?"

Tsukiumi looked absolutely scandalised at her accusation.

"My principle of course! Surely the whole purpose of the sekirei plan is to seek out the one most deserving to be with their ashikabi!" She growled at Miya, though the other didn't seem the least bothered by the outburst. "Only the strongest should be allowed to remain!"

"And what if that sekirei turns out not to be you." the landlady stated calmly, shocking Tsukiumi and stopping The Water Sekirei's potential verbal rampage dead in it's tracks.

"Then i would-" Tsukiumi attempted to retort, but found nothing to support her.

"Just food for thought, Tsukiumi." Miya said, reaching up and affectionately patting the blond on the head. "I can see you're thinking about it already."

"That's not fair…" Tsukiumi muttered under her breath. "It's not fair…"

"It never is, my child." Miya said, as her motherly instinct took over. She proceeded envelope Tsukiumi in a warm embrace from behind. "I would know that better than anyone." She peered over Tsukiumi's shoulder as she felt her sleeve turn moist. She turned the younger sekirei around and sure enough, she caught sight of the younger sekirei's tear stained face.

Miya smiled as she stroked Tsukiumi's blonde hair affectionately.

"It's okay child, I won't tell anyone."

* * *

A lone woman watched the touching scene unfold on the computer monitor in front of her within the confines of a cramped and dark workspace. Needless to say, she had also been listening in to the discussion beforehand as well.

She reached beside her into the packet for another potato chip to gnaw on as she worked, pushing up a pair of thick glasses as she perused a large satellite map of western Tokyo laid out before her.

She would help them, she decided. She was in the perfect position to do so, so why wouldn't she? But, then she also decided it would be best not to reveal herself to them.

Yet.

* * *

"Ah man, too sweet. Get that away from me." Haihane said as she mock reeled and covered her face with her large clawed hand at the sight of Benitsubasa hanging off of Natsuo's arm, as they walked into the large vehicle hangar. Said ashikabi, though was not the least bit bothered by his sekirei's teasing.

"Shuddap!" Benitsubasa snapped back, retreating behind Natsuo with a furious blush on her face. She stuck her tongue out her partner and sister-bound.

"Now now, what did I say about fighting." Natsuo jested and gently shrugged, prompting The Red Sekirei to let go off him arm. He looked around, however not spotting the person he was looking for.

"Where's Karasuba?" He asked Haihane, only to be replied with a quizzical face.

"By the Humvee." The Blue Sekirei replied, gesturing with quick a tilt of the head to the space behind her, where sure enough the gray haired woman stood, arm slack on her sword, looking bored. Strangely, instead of her usual black gloves, her right hand was bare and her left was wrapped in a thick bandage. "Why'd you ask?"

Natsuo opened his mouth to answer but was cut of by another voice.

"Specialist Ichinomi!" A male voice exclaimed from behind him, causing Natsuo and his sekirei to turn to regard him. A man in his late thirties, clad in full battle order clutching a Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle walked up to them.

"Yes Captain?" Natsuo replied, identifying the man by the rank on his label.

"Ah sir, I assume you have seen the attack plan. I was wondering if you've decided how you will be splitting your forces?" The older man asked respectfully.

"Oh, silly me, I should have told you earlier." He said, turning to his two sekirei, "I'll be tagging with Karasuba this time, we'll take the eastern sector with alpha company. Benihime and Haihane will be with bravo in the western sector."

The latter two sekirei gawked upon hearing of his arrangement while the former raised an eyebrow.

"Any objections?" Natsuo asked the MBI guard captain.

"None sir, we're ready when you are." He acknowledged with a curt salute.

"Wait, why are you going with Black?!" Benitsubasa wailed, grabbing on the Natsuo's arm as soon as the military man left.

"Yes, why her?" Haihane joined in the probing in quick succession, pushing Benitsubasa aside as she walked up to her ashikabi, much to the other's annoyance. She responded in kind by giving Haihane a hard shove, resulting in the start of a cat fight.

"Yes, why me?" An ominous voice asked from behind them, immediately silencing both their protests. The two younger sekirei cautiously retreated behind Natsuo as Karasuba stepped forth.

"What are you trying to play at?" The Black Sekirei asked.

"Just thought you might get lonely." Natsuo quipped with his usual unreadable smile. He gestured to the nearby armoured vehicle which the soldiers were loading into. "After you."

Karasuba snorted a reply, before spinning on her heel and walking. Natsuo followed, but not before turning to Benitsubasa and Haihane.

"Good luck." He said to them with a small smile.

* * *

Seio and his sekirei moved quietly in the shadows, scouting out the fence that ran around the power station. Security seemed more lax than usual, probably because workers fearing an MBI take over of their company, fled before the lockdown.

A thunderous boom erupted from the dark forest, as a bolt of blue lightning burst out of the trees, blowing away the main gate and allowing three shadowy figures to slip past in the smoke.

"Hikari! Hibiki!" Seio shouted from within the haze. "Guards at your 3 o'clock! 30 meters!"

"On it!" They replied in unison, and joined their hands together as if holding a large sphere between them. Sure enough, it instantly sparked and glowed into a brilliant blue lightning ball.

The guards didn't stand a chance as the sparking ball ripped through their ranks before exploding in the midst of the group, obliterating everything.

Seio himself ducked under the rifle butt strike of a guard, and responded with a punch to the gut and ramming the guard's head into his knee. The guard's unconscious limp body fell to the ground.

Seio picked up the guard's rifle and slung it before starting to run towards the main generator building.

"Let's go!" Hikari and Hibiki heard their ashikabi's shout and quickly followed.

* * *

A buzz from his mobile shook Natsuo from from his thoughts, he pulled it out to check, surprised to find a familiar code on the screen.

" _Code BIRDCAGE request?"_

His eyes flickered towards the driver, relieved to find him too absorbed with his task of driving to notice. Natsuo keyed the reply into his phone and sent the text message, trying hard not to fidget given how on edge he was. The reply was prompt,

" _-You are now on a secure line- "_

Another line of text followed.

" _How many?"_ Natsuo's eyes darted around, counting the total strength of the soldiers around him.

" _25 men, full battle kit, 5 Humvees. 2 Blackhawk gunships."_ He typed as his eyes shifted to the rear view mirror to glance at the metaphorical elephant in the room. She was sitting, legs crossed, chin resting heavily on her hand in boredom as she gazed out of the window.

The image of a relaxed and confident lady.

" _... and 1 Karasuba."_

" _Was compromised while withdrawing elixir, can't help you on my end."_ Natsuo furrowed his brow as he typed.

" _It's okay, don't think we'll need it anyways. You're in the lead car right?"_

" _Yes, how did you know?"_ He asked.

" _-Secure line terminated- "_

A bright orange light rocketed through the night sky from a nearby building, slamming into one of the MBI's Blackhawks before its pilot could react.

The doomed craft fell from the sky in a huge fireball with all the acrobatic grace of a pebble, and crashed into the river below.

The second Blackhawk immediately doubled back and began circling the area to locate the attacker.

It only managed half a loop before another rocket clipped its tail rotor from behind, sending it spiralling to its doom below.

" _What the fuck just happened?!"_ Natsuo heard the guard captain shout over the radio comms as the rest of the convoy screeched to a halt. " _Sitrep! Now!"_

" _Both helos are down!" A soldier's panicked voice replied. "Looked like RPGs!"_

" _What?!"_ The guard captain cursed. " _How the hell did they know we were here?!"_

" _Get me their positions! Now!"_ The captain ordered. " _I want those sneaky little fucks dead!"_

" _Sir! I think I saw the rockets come from a tower!"_ shouted a neighbouring Humvee's gunner. " _Northwest of our po-"_

The line went dead with a thump as Natsuo watched the man fall back down dead with a spray of blood from his throat. Karasuba cocked an eyebrow and let out a low whistle.

" _Private?"_ The guard captain asked " _Private?!"_

Another hiss and thump came from behind turned to find the body of another dead gunner. This one bleeding through a hole from his forehead.

Karasuba shoved the dead body away before it had a chance to land on her.

The others quickly took the hint and ducked back into the relative safety of the armoured vehicles.

" _Fuck! They were ready for us?!"_ The captain shouted. " _What the fuck's going o-"_

He was cut off by a loud whine, like the sound of a dying whale.

Then everything went pitch black.

* * *

"That's the signal!" Minato shouted to his sekirei, who responded without hesitation. With the street lights gone, all there was left in the way of illumination were thin rays of moonlight. Barely enough for a human to see anything but more than adequate for the keen eyesight of a certain close combat sekirei.

"Right!" Musubi beamed as she charged towards the blockade of MBI vehicles. She leapt into the air, drawing a fist back and plugging it into the first vehicle she caught on the way down.

The thump and screech of tortured metal pierced through the surreal silence, followed closely by the sounds of confused screams as Musubi began ripping her path of carnage through the blockade.

"Shigi! Kuno! Now's your chance!" Minato shouted.

"Right!" The pair responded and running into the fray, using the path that Musubi had carved through the blockade.

A soldier freed himself from the wreckage, and saw the pair running past him. He lifted his rifle, aimed and was about the squeeze the trigger. But a sudden blow to the back of his head knocked him out cold and sent his shot wide.

Shigi grabbed Kuno by the arm and shiher body with his, to shield her from the shrapnel as the round sparked off the tarmac.

"It's not fair to attack behind you know." Musubi scolded as she quickly grabbed the soldier's rifle and bent it down the middle.

"You guys ok?!" Minato shouted to the pair. He heaved a sigh of relief as he saw the hazy form of Shigi raise a thumbs up. He opened his mouth again to say something else but was cut of by the loud screech of metal grinding against metal.

Suddenly, the form of a wrecked humvee burst through the smoke right towards them. Shigi swiftly pushed Kuno and himself to the ground, ducking inches shy under it, while Musubi jumped out of the way with Minato hoisted on the shoulder.

"Man, are you guys really that thick or what." An angry girl's voice sighed from behind them. Just then, the street lights flickered back into life, illuminating the once darkened part of the cityscape. The group turned to meet a young girl with pink hair, tied into a side ponytail and clad in the dreaded black uniform.

"Shit! Run Shigi!" Minato shouted to his junior ashikabi as he stepped between them and their newfound assailant.

"Wait! We can't just leave you-" Shigi's retort died in his throat at the sight of the hostile sekirei pushing aside another wrecked vehicle with little effort.

"Go! Now!" Minato shouted again, not turning to look at them. Musubi took the cue and hopped in front of her ashikabi.

"I'm not going to let you get them!" The brunette challenged. "Number 88, Musubi! I challenge you!"

"The fuck?" The pink haired girl raised an eyebrow. "Fine, Number 105, Benitsubasa. I highly doubt you even stand a fucking chance."

Musubi charged, full of vigour. Benitsubasa drew her hands back and fell into her fighting stance. The brunette threw the first punch, but was too uncontrolled and predictable. Her opponent easily side stepped her and threw a punch of her own, connecting with the unguarded side of Musubi's face.

Minato gawked as his sekirei was thrown back ten feet and sent crashing onto the ground hard. He relaxed, if only slightly, when she got back up, visibly shaken, but otherwise unhurt.

"Oh, not bad." Benitsubasa complimented sarcastically, her mouth curling into a smirk. "Now let's see you take this one!"

"Extreme Earthquake!" Benitsubasa screamed as she launched herself into the air with a fist drawn back. Musubi had just enough time to dodge before the pink haired girl crashed into the ground, crushing the tarmac below.

Musubi attempted to counter with a punch aimed at Benitsubasa's head, but was easily blocked by the other sekirei. Benitsubasa countered by grabbing her by the wrist and punching her in the gut. Musubi keeled over from the punch, making her drop her guard. Benitsubasa wasted no time and landed a roundhouse kick square in the brunette's chest, sending her flying.

"Musubi!" Minato screamed, as he watched his sekirei crash into side of a metal column, with enough force to make a human sized dent in it.

"Minato!" The ashikabi heard a familiar voice shout his name behind him. He turned and saw Shigi running back down the bridge towards him.

"What are you doing?! I told you to run!" Minato shouted back at the junior ashikabi.

"Well i-" Shigi opened his mouth to protest when suddenly a dark figure dropped from above in front of him, stopping Shigi in his tracks.

"Going somewhere?" The dark figure asked, raising an intimidating large steel claw to meet Shigi's gaze.

"Took you long enough Haihane." Minato heard the one called Benitsubasa say, before he heard a dull thump of something hitting the floor behind him. He turned and instantly felt sick to his stomach at the sight of the battered and unconscious form of Musubi that was unceremoniously dumped in front of him.

He fell to his knees his knees in defeat beside his sekirei, clutching her hand and squeezing it in his. Her breathing was raspy and shallow, her clothing in shreds, and through the holes Minato spotted a multitude of bruises and cuts over her exposed skin.

Shigi took the opportunity to make a break past Haihane. He got up to right beside the sekirei before he felt his left leg suddenly give out on him. He collapsed, and spotted blood seeping through a large cut in his thigh. The Blue Sekirei clinked the claws on her right hand.

"Told you not to move." She mocked, licking her lips.

"Oh, you'll join her very soon, don't worry." Haihane added, flashing a menacing glare at Kuno, who stood rooted to the ground, agasp at Musubi's unconscious form by Benitsubasa's feet.

Minato felt a dampness on his cheek. He touched it, realising he'd been crying while staring at Musubi the whole time.

" _This is all my fault."_ Minato mentally kicked himself. " _I should have known this was reckless."_

"Hey, get up!" Benitsubasa snarked as she kicked Musubi's side. "You were talking all that good shit a while ago! Not so fucking tough are you now huh?!" She continued, kicking harder.

"Stop it!" Minato screamed in fury as he attempted to tackle the Red Sekirei. Benitsubasa rolled her eyes and sidestepped him, grabbing his arm and putting it behind him in a judo hold. She pushed it to its breaking point, earning a satisfying cry of pain from Minato.

Wordlessly, she threw him back over Musubi. Minato's face landed atop Musubi's chest.

He felt a weak pulse. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

"Come on! Wake up!" He croaked through the tears. He got no response.

He stopped, letting her body fall limp in his arms. Minato pressed her head into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry…."

He gingerly slid his hand up and stroked her hair.

Kuno watched them in silence, every fiber wishing that under some miracle she could suddenly turn into a fighting type and bash that disciplinary squadron girl's skull in. It just wasn't fair, why did the maker make her a support type, and not a useful support like all the others. All she had was that stupid song.

"Wait, the song." Her train of thought halted immediately.

"Will that even work?" Kuno's brow creased as she weighed her options, her eyes shifting between the distraught Minato and unconscious Musubi, to the two disciplinary squad sekirei.

"No harm in trying." She took a deep breath to focus her energy, and sang. "Please, wake up."

A bright light engulfed the place where Kuno stood, forming into a tall pillar that reached the heavens. The pillar of light then split, and like a fountain, rained back down over the group. Almost in response, Musubi's body emitted a strange bright glow. Her hand twitched.

A stunned Minato watched as her eyes shot open and she bent over as she inhaled sharply, nearly knocking Minato over.

"Musubi! I thought you were-" Minato managed to stutter before Musubi cut him off.

"Save that for later! Use your norito now!" Musubi uncharacteristically demanded, looking at him expectantly.

* * *

"Will someone tell me how the hell they got the jump on us?!" The old commander's static filled voice barked over the comms, in fierce competition with the drone of the gunned humvee engine. His words were followed promptly by the sounds of panicked and confused soldiers incoherent rambling.

They had aborted the mission and were retreating back to base, but a distress call from squad two mean they were redirected to provide reinforcements for their comrades.

The power had returned to all of the city by now. The passing streetlights cast their harsh glow on Karasuba who sat in the humvee, disinterested as ever.

Another light washed over her, and suddenly a feeling of familiar presence sent a shiver down her body. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, as she tasted bile at the back of her throat.

"No." She whispered, covering her mouth with her bandaged hand.

" _I saw you die."_

* * *

"Musubi, wha-" Minato blinked as he tried to ask before he felt lips forcefully press against his. He opened his eyes and saw a pair of brilliant white wings of light sprout from Musubi's back.

"Sorry, i'll explain later." She said, rising to her feet to meet the two opposing sekirei once more. "Fist of my contract, break the unhappiness of my ashikabi! I, number eight, Yume, will be your challenger."

Minato's eyes widened at her declaration, and that was when he spotted through "Yume's" shredded clothing, another tattoo on her stomach. This one had two sekirei bird crests on the top, surrounding a yin yang symbol, above a number "08" in block letters.

"The hell?" Benitsubasa exclaimed. "You lost your mind bitch?"

"Kids shouldn't speak that way to their elders." Yume scolded with a smirk. "You need to learn some respect."

"Oh i'll show you!" Benitsubasa shouted. She pulled her hands together at her chest, and sparks began to glow from in between them. The Red Sekirei then pulled them apart, revealing a swirling blue ball of sparks.

"Shredder!" She launched herself at blinding speed straight for Yume, aiming to plant her attack square into her chest.

"I like your spirit kid." Yume quipped, unfazed by the incoming blue ball of death. With mere inches between her and it, she twisted her into a side step and slipped a hand past Benitsubasa's attack.

"But you still have much to learn." Grabbing the pink haired girl's wrist, she used Benitsubasa's momentum against her, and redirected the attack, sending the younger sekirei tumbling.

A zing of steel came from behind Yume. Haihane stood stunned as her claw simply cracked and shattered from what seemed like an invisible force field around her.

Yume responded in kind, throwing a fast right hook that sent her flying right into a still recovering Benitsubasa.

* * *

Minato watched, amazed as Yume trashed both the disciplinary squadron sekirei without so much a breaking a sweat. The difference in her fighting style and Musubi's was night and day. The latter fought on instinct, and even though she was strong, her lack of good form often left herself open to attacks from much more skilled opponents.

The former however, fought with grace and effectiveness. A high block, then a jab-cross to break the opponent's guard, followed by a disabling kick. There were no elaborate moves, no waste of energy. Just pure efficiency.

But all the more, it meant that although they share the same face, Yume was not Musubi.

" _So what happened to her?"_

* * *

"Getyourfatassoffme!" Came a muffled cry from under Haihane, who took exception to the remark about her behind, and proceeded to press even more of her weight into the former's face, before getting up.

"She's unreal." Haihane monotoned, paying no mind to her partner who was busy simultaneously blaspheming while desperately gasping for air beside her. "What should we do?"

"We'll take her together!" Benitsubasa said, seizing the initiative. "You go for her front, i'll take her rear."

"Oh you like it in the rear don't you?" Haihane sniggered smugly, not letting a chance for inappropriate innuendo slip.

"Shut the fuck up!" Benitsubasa retorted, blushing furiously. Haihane's sniggering intensified at her outburst.

"Right, let's go!" The Blue Sekirei hunkered down and launched herself at Yume with incredible speed. At the same time Benitsubasa flanked the brunette's left, skidding on the tarmac as she made the turn around to get the jump on her unprotected back.

"Not bad!" Yume's lips curled into a smirk as Haihane's remaining claw shot towards her from a blur of after images. She balled hand into and fist and rammed it straight for the blade tip of Haihane's claw. The blades, cracked and shattered under the force of the punch, sending bits of broken steel flying.

"Shit!" Haihane was immediately forced on the defensive. She twisted her heel and allowed herself to fall backwards, away from the shards and Yume's fist.

The loud crackling of electricity pulled Yume's attention away from Haihane. She looked behind her just in time to see a very angry Benitsubasa dropping from the sky, shoving another ball of lightning in her hands, this one larger than the previous.

"Get some!" The Red Sekirei shouted, slamming it straight into Yume's face.

A deafening roar shook the ground as a explosion of smoke and ash erupted where the three sekirei stood.

"Musubi!" Minato screamed.

* * *

Author's note: Sorry this took such a long time to write. Was planning to realise this on late March but school got in the way, so March turned to April, and April turned to May. Chapter is in the works now, but i won't dare to promise when it would be out. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this.


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